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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26539057">The Dance of Starlight and Lightning</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalira/pseuds/Kalira'>Kalira</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Naruto</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Magical Realism, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Dancing, Kakashi Week, Kakashi Week 2020, Love, M/M, Magical Realism</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 06:42:48</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,812</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26539057</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalira/pseuds/Kalira</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Iruka's always gruelling schedule has been even worse of late, and he barely has nights to share with his lover - and even those only when Kakashi isn't called away for his own responsibilities.</p><p>Tonight, under the light of the stars and bounded, calm lightning, they'll find time to glory in closeness with one another again.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hatake Kakashi/Umino Iruka</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>51</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Kakashi Week 2020, Kalira's Kakashi Week Stories (2020)</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Dance of Starlight and Lightning</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Written for <a href="https://kakashiweek.tumblr.com/post/623757588975190016/kakashi-week-2020-prompts">Kakashi Week</a>, Day 6: Any AU</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Iruka jumped as his phone buzzed beside him, then took a breath, relaxing. Maybe he’d been staying a little too late a little too often, if he was this tense, he thought, reaching for his phone.</p><p>He winced when he saw the time. He’d promised to try and be home for dinner tonight, and not only was any chance of that <i>hours</i> past, he hadn’t even messaged his lover since midday. Damn. Iruka sighed and unlocked his phone, tapping on the alert from Kakashi. It was unlikely he would be <i>upset</i> at Iruka, but that didn’t make him feel any better for disappearing on his lover yet again.</p><p>Besides, he <i>loved</i> Kakashi and did actually enjoy spending time with him. Certainly more than the Archives, regardless of the jokes his friends threw about sometimes. Iruka sighed.</p><p>He winced again as he realised he’d missed several messages from his lover.</p><p>
  <i><b>Kakashi</b> (18:37)</i>
  <br/>
  <i>See you soon?</i>
</p><p>
  <i><b>Kakashi</b> (19:18)</i>
  <br/>
  <i>Called out; there are leftovers covered on the counter, waiting for you if you make it home before I do. See you later, koibito.</i>
</p><p>
  <b>
    <i>Kakashi</i>
  </b>
  <i> (23:43)</i>
  <br/>
  <i>Come up to the roof?</i>
</p><p>Iruka frowned, staring at his phone. The . . . roof? The roof <i>here?</i></p><p>If his lover had been <i>anyone else</i>, Iruka would have assumed the roof of <i>their apartment complex</i>, but Kakashi. . . The roof of the Archives was technically off limits, even to most personnel - under which Kakashi technically qualified, as an active-duty jounin, and was even given authorisation to use the roof occasionally - and it was protected.</p><p>But. . . Kakashi.</p><p>There was no keeping Kakashi off anything accessible to the sky, if he chose to be there.</p><p>Iruka rose, pushing his long-empty coffee cup further back and running his eyes over the scrolls still on his desk. He collected the three that needed to be locked down and tucked his phone in his pocket, heart fluttering.</p><p>The scrolls were soon safely slotted behind fuinjutsu-reinforced glass, and Iruka closed and locked up the room as he left, a spark of magic bringing up the ward system. Iruka shivered, feeling a soft, anticipatory tingle sparked by curiosity.</p><p>A brush of magic to his flak vest and his uniform shifted to allow his wings to extend, and Iruka took a step, then paused. It was . . . <i>tempting</i> to slip out the window, to fly, but. . .</p><p>Iruka turned for the stairs at a quick pace. Iruka could probably get onto the roof from the air - he technically didn’t have authorisation for it either, but there was little in this building Iruka couldn’t get into if he truly wanted to - but he’d rather not test it tonight. Or play with the reactive defenses keyed to prevent outside entry.</p><p>A single, one-handed seal - one specific to this ward - and a flicker of chakra let Iruka slip through the door to the final, uppermost stretch of stairs. He didn’t stop, trotting all the way to the top, his phone quiet in his pocket.</p><p>The door opened easily at his touch, though it should have been locked, and Iruka frowned slightly as he stepped outside.</p><p>The roof was dark, <i>everywhere</i>. Iruka took a breath, but didn’t call out, keeping quiet by habit as he walked away from the door, squinting into the dark.</p><p>“Koibito.”</p><p>The faint frisson of alarm that had threatened to overtake Iruka eased instantly at the familiar low voice - even before a small flurry of blue-white sparks bloomed in the dark, illuminating Kakashi. The sparks whirled in his palm, tame lightning - or, at least, lingering, controlled lightning. <i>Tame</i> was a word Iruka found difficult to square with his lover <i>or</i> his element, no matter how domestic and soft he might be with Iruka.</p><p>Kakashi lifted both hands, the lightning winding around him in jaggedly beautiful lines, a loving embrace from a wild element to the creature who embodied its nature, all but breathing it into the world.</p><p>The lightning surged in his palms, then shot out in all directions, and Iruka froze but didn’t flinch. It passed by him, of course, harmless - not so much as a spark jumping towards him - as it-</p><p>Iruka’s breath caught.</p><p>His gaze finally left Kakashi, instead following the softly-brilliant lightning as a dozen and more bolts settled in open ironwork cages around the rooftop. It took Iruka a moment longer to realise they were suspended in midair, supported by nothing.</p><p>Supported, of course, by Kakashi’s will.</p><p>Iruka turned slowly on the spot, feathers prickling with the electricity heavy in the air as he took in the sight - blue-white, dimmed just enough it didn’t sting to look at the crackling bolts themselves, the coiled lightning washed the rooftop in a soft, almost unreal light. Iruka came to a stop as he faced Kakashi again, his lover’s usually dark eyes sparking and lit up that same electric blue as he extended his power, smiling crookedly at Iruka.</p><p>“Hello gorgeous.” Iruka said, voice low - it felt almost like anything else would be . . . too much, right now, <i>here</i>.</p><p>Kakashi moved towards him, slow and graceful with only the faintest hint of the prowling predator Iruka knew lurked beneath his skin. Iruka’s breath hitched as he moved to meet his lover, and he closed his eyes for a moment as Kakashi’s hands smoothed over his sides, stroking rather than pulling him in close.</p><p>“I’ve missed you.” Kakashi said, nuzzling his cheek, knuckles brushing Iruka’s feathers.</p><p>“I. . . I’ve been home every night.” Iruka said, even as he melted into Kakashi’s embrace, feathers ruffling and wings arching a little. It was, in its way, more than they had to hold on to of one another many times over the course of their relationship when Kakashi was called away, when he was needed on missions, on duty.</p><p>It was also painfully little, when Iruka was up before dawn to squeeze in work in the Archives and put time into training a pair of less experienced chuunin in the magics and fuinjutsu they needed to work there before hurrying to the Academy for his classes, only to return here after and stay late into the night. It had been the pattern of almost every day for weeks, the Archives needing an overhaul and changing security in addition to a heavier load of information and new records, and not only was Iruka beginning to wear out. . .</p><p>Iruka nestled his face against Kakashi’s shoulder, feeling the tingle of his lover’s raiton nature, both warm and cold at once. “I miss you too.”</p><p>Kakashi hummed, swaying gently with him, one hand sliding up his back, cradling him close. Iruka moved easily with his lover, sighing. Kakashi had been called out several nights recently, as well, and while he had not been gone on missions that stretched for weeks - or months - when those nights were the only time Iruka had at home. . . It had been-</p><p>Lonely. Perhaps. Iruka’s life was full of people, he saw people he <i>cared for</i> every day, but there had been a jagged-edged Kakashi-shaped hole tearing into his life, he realised all the more sharply now for having Kakashi.</p><p>Iruka lifted his head suddenly, his wings flicking once as he realised there was a soft, eerie melody filtering into the air around them. Kakashi gave him another sweet, crooked smile, taking a bigger step and bringing Iruka with him, a smooth turn that fell into the same pattern as the easy swaying, carried by the music, and Iruka’s heart squeezed achily.</p><p>“Oh. . . Kakashi.” Iruka lifted one hand, cupping Kakashi’s cheek, then sliding along his jaw to cup the nape of his neck - his fingers tingled from the sparking energy running along the wild strands - pulling him into a gentle kiss.</p><p>Kakashi growled softly against his mouth, fingers splaying at the small of his back. Iruka’s feathers ruffled as he deepened the kiss, wings unfurling and wrapping forwards around his lover almost before he’d entertained the thought. Kakashi rumbled affectionately, pulling back a little and rubbing their noses together, meeting Iruka’s eyes from half a breath away.</p><p>Iruka kept moving with him easily, smiling, leaning their brows together. The music was slow and sweet, carried on the crackling undertone of lightning rich in the air, and Iruka grinned, then tipped his head for another kiss. Kakashi’s embrace tightened, just a little, but he didn’t stop moving, guiding Iruka easily through a lazy turn. Iruka hummed, turning his face away as their lips parted, closing his eyes and resting his cheek against Kakashi’s, his smile returning.</p><p>Kakashi’s steps were sure and graceful, and it was easy to fall into him, the gentle pressure of his hand on Iruka’s back, the sparking warmth of him in Iruka’s arms and seeming larger than life even framed between Iruka’s arched wings.</p><p>Iruka leaned into his lover, nuzzling him affectionately and sighing as Kakashi stroked his feathers, then caught his free hand, twining their fingers and bringing it up to rest the back against Kakashi’s own chest as they danced.</p><p>Kakashi’s hand smoothed up and down his back, and Iruka shivered, folding his wings and leaning away a little to meet his lover’s eyes. Kakashi smiled, sweet with obvious pleasure that shaded his glowing eyes.</p><p>Then he stepped back, and Iruka had half a second to startle before Kakashi’s hands were guiding him through a twirl and bringing him back in. Iruka laughed, and Kakashi’s smile broadened into a grin even as he nosed Iruka’s cheek, settling them into form again.</p><p>Iruka shifted his feet, sliding one knee between Kakashi’s as his hand found its place on his lover’s shoulder once more, and laughed again, softer, as he felt the shiver run through his lover. Kakashi hugged him in tight, thigh brushing snugly between Iruka’s as the music grew a touch faster, and so did their steps.</p><p>The stars whirled slowly above them as they moved about the roof, in the sparking bounds of Kakashi’s lightning, and it was ridiculous and they definitely shouldn’t be up here like this and there were a hundred things-</p><p>. . .and it was <i>wonderful</i>.</p><p>Iruka squeezed Kakashi’s hand tight and wound his free arm around his lover’s shoulders, kissing him hard. Kakashi twitched, then shifted the rhythm of their steps - not quite stopping, but slowing to something steady and easy - as he surrendered to Iruka’s heated kiss, growling with pleasure.</p><p>“I love you.” Iruka said as their lips parted. “Thank you, gorgeous.”</p><p>Kakashi grinned, pure confidence and mischief, edged with the endless warmth of love Iruka was so used to seeing in those eerie eyes, whether lightning blue or storm grey. He moved back in an opening half-turn, twisting gracefully, and tugged Iruka after himself, and the music returned to the prior beat, a little quicker.</p><p>Iruka laughed happily and followed Kakashi on light, quick feet, flicking his wings as they moved immediately into a turn together, winding into each others’ arms once more.</p>
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